Exes and Ohs
by reading
Summary: A belated Valentine's Day for the Winchesters.


_Exes and Ohs_

_Nothing substantive at all. Just schmoop. Mention of the Sweeds, but no appearances._

_xxxx_

Sam opened the P.O. box and wrestled out a stack of envelopes and couple of small, beat-up packages. Frowning, he shuffled through the white paper of credit card offers and tugged out two red envelopes. One was addressed to "Mr. Dean Winchester," the other to Sam. The return address was Jo's.

Sam huffed out a pleased laugh, sticking Dean's card between his teeth as he stashed the rest of the contents of the box under his arm and tore into the envelope with his name on it. He leaned against the post office door with his back, easing a card out of the envelope as he left the building.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" in large red letters across white background.

Blinking, Sam flipped open the card. "We love you!" was scrawled across the inside, five widely different signatures looping themselves around the declaration, hearts drawn in black, exes and ohs under Tommy's name and Jo's.

Dean leaned against the Impala, arms folded over his chest, ankles crossed as he waited.

"Anything good?" Dean called.

Grinning around the envelope in his mouth, Sam took it from between his lips and slapped it against his brother's chest. Dean wrinkled his nose and made a vague noise of protest at the slightly damp state of the corner of the envelope.

Sam ignored him, opening his door and dropping into the car.

Scowling, Dean made his way around the Impala and got into his own seat. He slammed his door shut and, holding the red envelope between his fingertips suspiciously, looked over at Sam.

"Open it," Sam said. He'd pulled the two packages free of the stack and was working the tape off one with his name on it. The box under the brown paper wrap was pink.

"Ha!" Dean's bark of laughter turned Sam's head toward his brother. Dean was grinning when he looked over at Sam. "You get one of these?"

Sam nodded, tossing the other box into Dean's lap. "And one of these."

Digging in, Sam pulled out three packs of heart-shaped SweeTarts and a roll of Sprees.

"Awesome!" Dean had dumped the entire package into his lap and was rooting through its contents excitedly. There were a couple of Pez dispensers, one with a heart for a top and one with Baby Jack-Jack from the Incredibles. He uncovered a Starbucks card and laughed again at the package of heart-shaped Redhots.

Sam turned his attention back to his own loot, and abandoning his careful sorting, followed his brother's example, upending the box and shaking everything into the seat between his legs.

All the candy was non-perishable, which was good, considering that it was almost April. Sam's box had a gift-card to Barnes & Noble in addition to red licorice whips and more hard candy.

Sam pulled out one of the licorice whips and stuck an end in his mouth. He opened up the card again, running his eyes over the sentiment and the names, as he chewed. He looked across to his brother.

Dean had filled his mouth with Redhots and was blinking back tears as he swallowed the burning saliva they produced under his tongue. "Wha' tcha ge'?" he mumbled.

Sam held up his gift card and the whips. Dean's eyes lit up at the candy, even as they rolled in response to Barnes and Noble. He held up his own coffee card. "Fre'in' Sta'bu's," he said.

Sam laughed. "Well, they're everywhere," he said. Dean nodded at the truth of this and grinned a red-dyed grin.

They sat for awhile in the car munching happily, Dean snaking a couple of Sam's licorice whips and surrendering some Pez in payment after a brief scuffle.

Dean had reopened his card and was examining it thoughtfully. "Let me see yours," he said.

With a shrug, Sam handed his over. Dean studied it.

"What are these?" He held out the card, pointing.

Sam looked and then laughed.

He grinned at his brother. "Hugs and kisses."

"What?"

"The exes are kisses and the ohs are hugs." Sam hesitated. "Or the other way around. I can't remember."

Dean was staring at him. "Dude, how do you even _know_ that?" Dean's tone was part disgust, part genuine curiosity.

"Jess did that some. And her mom. We'd been dating, like, six months before I asked her what the hell they meant." Sam was smiling with the memory—he'd thought they were runes or sigils of some kind initially, even if that hadn't really made sense to him. He'd been embarrassed to have to ask, and Jess had been first amused, then almost sadly understanding when he finally had.

Dean watched his brother with the same careful expression he always wore when Sam talked about Jessica. He looked back at his card. "Huh," he said.

Sam was still smiling. "Yeah."

Nodding to himself, Dean slid the card carefully back into its envelope and leaned across to open the glove compartment. He slipped his card in and then looked at his brother, offering without words the use of the storage space.

Sam shook his head. "Thanks," he said, tucking his own card into an inside pocket of his jacket.

They gathered up the candy, Sam lifting his butt up off the seat to grab a couple of pieces that had not stayed where they were supposed to, and stashed it all in a paper bag that they found stuffed under one of the seats. Dean kept the Jack-Jack Pez dispenser out for easy access while Sam continued to work his way through the licorice whips.

As he started the car, Dean asked, "You gonna call?"

Already pulling out his phone, Sam smiled. "Yeah."

_The End._


End file.
